Orica denies not giving 'a damn'

Date: December 05 2012

An Orica executive has denied a suggestion he "didn't give a damn", after a court was told the chemical giant was slow to report a toxic chemical leak last year.

A lack of vigilance, proper processes and supervision were among the problems facing the chemical giant in the cases of seven leaks between October 2010 and December 2011, the NSW Land and Environment court heard on Wednesday.

One incident occurred at its Botany site in Sydney's southeast in September last year, while the six occurred at the chemical giant's Kooragang Island manufacturing plant north of Newcastle.

Stephen Rushton, SC, representing the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), said Orica, which has pleaded guilty to nine charges and faces up to $9 million in fines, had repeatedly breached its licence and the public's trust.

One leak in particular had caused "real fear and stress" and caused residents, the media and the government to "freak out", he said.

At 6.30pm on August 8 last year, one kilogram of the toxic substance chromium 6 - or hexavalent chromium - leaked from the Kooragang plant, the court was told.

"If they (the residents) had seen the film Erin Brokovich, they would have freaked out knowing this was coming down on their suburb," Mr Rushton said.

Orica is also charged with failing to report the matter "as soon as practicable" to the EPA.

Despite workers reporting "yellow spotting" on August 8, the chemical giant didn't refer the matter to the EPA until 10.30am the next day.

Mr Rushton said Orica's report came after a local resident complained.

"If there is a complaint concerning the incident off-site, Orica will report it," Mr Rushton said.

He suggested to Orica's global executive of manufacturing, Sean Winstone, that if there was no complaint, no report would be made.

"I don't accept that assertion," Mr Winstone said.

Following the leak, Mr Winstone said Orica was working "very hard" to put in place better notification procedures.

Mr Rushton suggested he hadn't done enough.

"This has nothing to do with the efficiency of notification procedures ... I suggest you didn't go back and do anything because you didn't give a damn," Mr Rushton said.

"I reject that completely," Mr Winstone said.

Three months later, more than 280kg of ammonia was released into the atmosphere in six separate incidents on November 9.

But Orica was unaware of what was happening as alarms weren't working and no one was monitoring the plant's control system, the court was told.

The hearing before Justice Rachel Pepper continues.

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